Today I want to share my reading list of the 39 best life-changing books which have helped me shape my life for 2020. I want the world to know how I came across books, adopted the reading habit, managed to read 39 books in 8 short months and made radical changes in my thinking, career and lifestyle.
I can’t agree with this phase enough.
“To double your income, triple your rate of learning”
Robin Sharma
I will not be sharing book summaries here. If you search with the title of “Life-Changing Books” you may easily find hundreds of book reviews on other blogs, Goodreads, Youtube, etc.
Here I am going to mention one to three lessons from each book which I picked up after completing it and implemented it in my life.
How did I get Into Reading?
If I give you a brief intro about myself. I am 29, a Postgraduate dental student, living on my stipend and my only career goals were to complete my post-graduation and then look for a job at some teaching hospital with a handsome salary so that I can stay in academics and keep practising dentistry at the same time.
As I was nearing the end of my fellowship I have found out that life is no bed of roses. Even after specialization, you have to work hard to earn good money due to worsening economic conditions
At that point, I stopped and thought that
Why some people make more money than others?
Why I have put my career in other people’s hand?
Why I will depend on a paycheck to pay my bills for my whole life?
Why can’t I work at my own hours?
Why do I have to ask my boss for sick leave?
Answer:
That’s because we have been sold the idea that jobs are safe and starting a business of your own involves a lot of risks.
We are told by our parents that work hard, get the best education so that the best companies can hire us.
We are scared to even think that that best education can be used to buy those best companies.
It’s just the difference of thinking in achieving the same thing and has hugely different outcomes.
I was going through some hard times in my life, faced a couple of emotional accidents back to back in a matter of weeks and one day I came across this TED Talk on my youtube feed by someone named Tai Lopez.
The title enticed me
Why I read a book a day (and why you should too): the law of 33%
This TED Talk had over 10 million views so I downloaded it to watch later but didn’t watch it for the next couple of days. And I soon I have watched it I got hooked to the talk, the guy and his approach and
YES to the BOOKS. I just needed it so much at that point in my life.
I probably have watched it over 50 times to the point that I memorized it by heart. I can repeat every word and it has opened another new world of knowledge, wisdom, learning, thinking and change for me.
I SIMPLY GOT HOOKED TO BOOKS.
to the best life-changing books I have ever read. I read 39 non-fiction books straight for 8 months.
What those 8 months of dedicated reading did for me?
- Gained a LOT of knowledge, wisdom and insights.
- I never thought I will learn anything other than dentistry and I was not a computer geek but books persuaded me to learn other in-demand skills. So……
- I learned Social Media Marketing and started my own social media marketing agency
- that course put me on the course acquiring other skills e.g
- Sales funnel building,
- Web development,
- Blogging,
- Graphic designing
- Copywriting
- Affiliate Marketing etc
Reading has opened a whole new world of change for me.
These are the books, which changed me because Good Books can be life-changing books as they have the potential to give you decades of experience in a few hours.
Books have the ability to collapse the timeline.
Readers are leaders and All great readers were avid readers.
The more I read, the humbler and resilient I have become.
All books are not equal. Every best seller is not worth reading. Fiction rarely gives you anything useful. So you have to be careful.
I made up my reading list after researching the great readers of our time i.e. Bill Gates, Tai Lopez. Oprah Winfrey. Warren Buffet. etc
Let’s move on to my reading list which I would recommend to every beginner. Every book has a lot to offer. I will share a few key practical, life-changing lessons which I picked up from every book, implemented it and the results I have reaped in my personality and in my life.
Let’s Move on.
Book Categories – Best Life Changing Books
I divide the books I read, into six categories. As I read mostly nonfiction, more or less every book falls into one of these categories. These are
- Biographies – Best to get courage from real-life examples
- Self Help– About personality development and motivational
- Business and Entrepreneurship – about launching, running and managing small/ large businesses
- Wealth – about making and managing money
- Health – about being healthy
- Classics – at least over 50 years old book, which has stood the test of time
Biographies
1) Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Before reading this book I only knew Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Hero of “Terminator” but this book gave me a wonderful sneak peek into his life.
Arnold says that
IT’S ALL REPS AND SETS….
Whatever he has achieved in his life is due to practice, practice and practice. That’s it
If you want to achieve something in life you have to earn it work for it.
A lot of books teach us that but Arnold’s life is a real-life example.
- He was born in a year of famine in a small Austrian town.
- By age 21 he was living in Los Angeles and had been crowned Mr Universe.
- Within ten years of moving to America, he has learned English, became the world’s greatest bodybuilder, earned his college degree and was a millionaire from his business enterprise.
- Thirty-Six years after moving to America he was elected Governor of California, the seventh-largest economy in the world.
His biography contains a scanned image of his speech. The image has twenty-five vertical lines at the top.
Each line indicates the number of times he practised that speech before delivering it just because he didn’t want to make any mistake. He wanted to be perfect and that’s why he believed in repetition, repetition and repetition.
My take away:
Success is not accidental.
If you Work Hard and Act Smart for Something, you will achieve it.
If Arnold has done it, so can I
2) Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
It’s probably one of the most enthralling and emotional autobiographies one will ever read.
That’s because the vicissitudes Nelson Mandela has gone through in the course of his life are so dramatic that the reader cannot help responding to them as if to a fairy tale or moral fable of some kind.
No hero or legend ever went through such protracted trial in order to arrive at so improbable a victory.
Nelson Mandela had spent twenty-seven freaking years in prison. That’s three decades almost. Away from family, away from wife, away from kids only for his NATION, only to bring freedom to South Africa.
My take away:
When the cause is bigger, more effort is required to achieve it.
When the lives of millions of people are attached to you, more sacrifices are required.
Very few people have done that in history. Such people are chosen and their lives are a source of audacity for us.
3) Made in America by Sam Walton:
Sam Walton founded the renowned Walmart. Started as a single dime store in a small town of Arkansas, Walmart is now the largest retailer in the world.
Sam Walton was declared the richest man in the world in the mid-1980s.
This biography is about entrepreneurship, and risk, and hard work, and knowing where you want to go and being willing to do what it takes to get there. And it’s a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other folks don’t, and about sticking to your guns.
My Take away:
In the last chapter of his book, Sam mentioned ten points which I want to jot down as they are.
Commit to your business. Believe in it more then anybody else.
Share your profits with all your associates and treat them as partners. in turn, they will treat you as a partner and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.
Motivate your partners, constantly day by day think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Don’t become too predictable.
Communicate; everything you possibly can to your partner. the more they know, the more they’ll understand.
Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.
Celebrate your successes and find some humour in your failures. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Loosen up a little bit and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun.
Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
Exceed your customers’ expectations. If you do they’ll come back over and over. Make good on all your mistakes and don’t make excuses – apologize.
Control your operations better than your competition. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you are too inefficient.
Swim Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way there is a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.
4) Kon Tikki – Across the Pacific by Raft by Thor Hayerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl, ethnologist and adventurer became known to the world when he organized and led famous Kon Tikki expedition in 1947 on a primitive balsa wood raft.
Heyerdahl and a small crew sailed from the pacific coast of South America to Polynesia, covered 4300 nautical miles in 101 days demonstrating the possibility that the Polynesians may have originated in South America.
My take away:
Very Engaging story. I have found it crazy at first that how few highly educated and learned man of their respective fields put their lives at stake just to prove a theory. But it has been done several times in history as well.
The pioneers of anything have to make sacrifices more than ordinary people. Only then they are remembered and acknowledged for their work.
This is the story of determination, science, human brains and teamwork.
5) Michael Jordan the life by Roland Lazenby
Michael Jordan is a legendary American Basketball player. This biography provides the first truly comprehensive portrait of Jordan: the player, the icon, and the man.
He says about himself
“My greatest skill was being teachable. I was like a sponge. Even if I thought my coaches were wrong, I tried to listen and learn something”
(Michael Jordan)
To his coaches, his capacity to be coached was his single most impressive attribute. His coach Dean Smith once asserted,
“I had never seen a player listen so closely to what the coaches said and then go and do it”
What I have learned:
Being teachable is a universal trait among all successful people which is often overlooked by us.
We think that our skills and physical gift elevate us above all.
We should listen and follow the experts of our field. It will not only reduce the chances of error but shortens the time to achieve success and fame.
Self-help / Personality Development:
6) Managing Oneself by Peter F Drucker
Its a very short just fifty-five pages, highly readable article published in Harvard Business Review. It’s the most precise and powerful text written on the subject of self-management.
Peter Drucker explains how to create your career path by knowing when to seize opportunities and when to change the course.
This is the only self-help book that I recommend if somebody ask for the recommendation of personality development book.
What strikes to me the most:
Peter Drucker talks about managing the second half of life by developing a second career or second major interest and developing it early and the prerequisite is to begin long before you enter it.
According to him, there are three ways to develop a second career.
- The first is actually to start one. That may mean moving from one kind of organization to another or moving to different kinds of work altogether.
- The second is to develop a parallel career.
- The third is to become a social entrepreneur. Keep doing what you have been doing all along but spend less and less of your time on it and start doing another activity usually a nonprofit.
Only after reading this book, I concluded that I need to learn something other than dentistry as well.
The question was what that should be????
You are reading this blog because I picked up the lesson what Peter Drucker was trying to convey.
I have set up this website myself, written this blog and generating money by monetizing it
7) The 5 am Club by Robin Sharma.
“Own your Morning, Elevate your Life”
The concept of The 5 am Club has been introduced by Robin Sharma twenty years ago based on a revolutionary morning routine that has helped his clients maximize their productivity, activate their best health and bulletproof their serenity in this age of overwhelming complexity.
I always wanted to be an early riser but never had the guts to do so. Since May’2019 when I first completed this book I am a member of The Sacred 5 am Club.
This book has compelled me in some magical way to get out of bed before dawn.
Best thing I have picked up:
The 20/20/20 Formula
There is a lot to discover and follow in this book. The one thing which has helped me to get on the journey of change is 20/20/20 formula.
20 minutes exercise / 20 minutes meditation/ 20 minutes journaling = 60 minutes/1 hour
According to him, if you get your first hour the day right i.e. 5 am to 6 am, your whole day will be taken care of. And it’s 100 percent true.
8) The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
In his seminal self-help masterpiece, Dr David Schwartz not only motivates and inspires, but he also gets to the very core of why thinking big will make you live big.
There is a lot to discuss in this book.
Few quotes which I liked are.
Upgrade your thinking: Think as important people think
Manage your environment: Go first class
Make it a rule to Seek advice from people who know
Want to make money? then Get the put service first attitude
9) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
“In life, we have a limited amount of fucks to give
So you must choose your fucks wisely”
In this generation defining-self help guide, Mark Manson shows us that the key to being stronger, happier people is to handle adversity better and stop trying to be “positive” all the time.
Lessons Learned:
Choose the things which I have to care about in life wisely as every problem doesn’t worth my energy. Few matters are supposed to be ignored.
To know my limitations in life and accept them.
10) The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
Another good book by Robin Sharma. It’s an extraordinary tale providing a step by step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance and joy.
Few good lessons from the book
- Discipline is built by consistently performing small acts of courage.
- Respect your time it’s your most precious commodity.
- Have the courage to say NO.
- Savour the journey and live each day as your last.
- Practice gratitude.
11) Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Makes Us Influential by John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut
When people size you up what do they see?
We would all like people to appreciate us for our own positive qualities.
This book offers a wealth of practical approaches for understanding and improving how each of us presents ourselves to the world. It’s required reading at Harvard business school.
Character judgments revolve around two qualities
- Strength (the root of respect) and
- Warmth (the root of affection).
The ability to project both strength and warmth at once is rare so rare that we celebrate elevates and envy those few people who manage it.
My take away:
Learn to manage my image in front of people according to the situation.
12) Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy
There just is not enough time for everything on our to-do list- and there never will be. Successful people don’t try to do everything.
They learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure those get done. They eat their frogs first.
Take away:
Make a to-do list every day. This will help you think over what to do next.
Prioritize things according to importance level.
Delegate tasks to others which are not necessarily performed by you. This will help you focus on more important things.
13) The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
“If you chase two rabbits you will not catch either one”
(Russian Proverb)
Each of us wants fewer distractions. The daily barrage of emails, texts, tweets, messages, and meetings distract us and stress us out.
And what’s the cost? Second rate work, missed deadlines, smaller paycheques, and fewer promotions – and lots of stress.
My take away
If I want more productivity from my work, more income for a better lifestyle. I have to find out my one thing that matters the most.
14) Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
It’s an amusing book that can be read and understood quickly by everyone who wants to succeed in these changing and unpredictable times.
This short story has a lot of great lessons
If you do not change, you become extinct so you should be open-minded enough to learn something new, act differently and adapt in time to help you succeed.
- Smell the cheese (your environment) often so you know when it is getting old.
Move with the cheese and enjoy it i.e. don’t hate change.
15) The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
Another good life-changing book by Robin Sharma.
It’s a book full of inspiration, ideas and real-world tactics that will change the game for you. But mostly it’s a book about unleashing your inner leader- that big and bold and phenomenal part of you that’s full of courage excellence and honour.
Main Idea:
This book says that the old model of leadership is dead, gone and obsolete as the old model said that you need a title or a position to make a difference in this world.
But now every body can lead his/her life .You don’t need a title for that.
16) The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha
Neil Pasricha, a famous blogger, in his book The Happiness Equation says that
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens and 90% how I react to it.
My takeaway:
Watch out your reactions. We are incharge of our attitudes
Business & Entrepreneurship:
17) Zero to One by Peter Theil
This book is very dense, crisply written, rational and practical.
The author Peter Theil co-founded PayPal and Palantir, made first outside investment in Facebook, funded companies like SpaceX and LinkedIn. He has built multiple spectacular companies.
He says that the next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. If you are copying these guys, you are not learning from them.
It’s easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from n to 1, adding more of something familiar.
Every new creation goes from 0 to 1. This book is about how to get there.
What I have learned from this book;
Few things which I liked the most are
- When you start a small company and when you have limited resources. Don’t try to disrupt the market. Avoid competition as much as possible. Start small, dominate the niche and then scale up.
- Recruiting is a core competency for any company. It should never be outsourced.
- Startups don’t need to pay high salaries to their employees because they can offer something better: part ownership of the company itself. Equity is the one form of compensation that can effectively orient people towards creating value in the future.
18) The Self-made Billionaire Effect: John Saviokla and Mitch Cohen
In this one of the most exhaustive studies, the authors have researched self-made billionaires in an attempt to find common patterns.
What I particularly admire is their nuanced insights: these men and women are not solitary, risk-seeking, creative, overnight successes.
They work in teams; they manage risks and rewards; they are good at execution as they are at ideation; and they have been on the roller coaster, not rocket ships. Their wisdom is invaluable for entrepreneurs and managers
Lesson:
The authors have found one characteristic universally common among all self-made billionaires.
They were focused, attentive and entirely present when spoken to.
I have now made it my habit to give my full attention to the person who is speaking to me.
19) The Everything Store by Brad Stone
This book tells the revelatory, no holds barred, true story of the global giant which has transformed retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing. The fascinating journey from humble startup to the web’s biggest retailer demonstrates how Bezos’s determination to make his dream a reality has also, for better or for worse, changed the way we live our lives.
My take away
Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online book store in 1996 when the internet was expensive, is not in reach of everyone and the idea of online shopping was considered alien.
But Bezos was ahead of the curve he saw what we couldn’t. He started early and persevered. Today he dominates the e-commerce industry and is one of the richest people in the world.
20) The Lean Startup by Eric Ries:
This book is about learning what your customers really want. It’s about testing your vision continuously, adapting and adjusting before it’s too late
Lesson:
The main concept presented by Eric Ries in this book is the idea of
Minimum Viable Product.
According to him when developing a new product one can start with a low quality , low functionality product which can make a sale. That Minimum Viable Product can act in service of building a great high-quality product according to customer reviews.
21) Contagious by Jonah Berger
What makes things popular? And what is it that makes online content go viral?
Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? And why are some stories and rumors more infectious?
In this book, Berger combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories and reveals the secret science behind word of mouth and social communication.
If you’ ever wondered why certain stories get shared, emails get forwarded or videos go viral. Contagious explain why, and shows how to make your product or idea catch on.
My takeaway:
Emotion drive people to take action. They make us laugh, shout, and cry and they make us talk, share and buy.
So rather than quoting statistics or providing information, we need to focus on feelings. To make things go viral or an idea to catch on try to stimulate appropriate emotions in people.
22) Start with Why by Simon Sinek:
This book is about the naturally occurring patterns, a way of thinking, acting and communicating that gives some leaders the ability to inspire those around them.
Although these “Natural Born Leaders” may have come into the world with a predisposition to inspire, the ability is not reserved for them exclusively.
We can all learn this pattern. We can all learn to lead.
My take away:
Though this whole book is a gem, there is one thing that was a totally new perspective of thinking for me. I would like to share it over here.
Simon Sinek writes,
“An arrow is just a flimsy stick of wood when hunting through the air, becomes a force only when it is moving fast in one direction
But what it has to do with finding your why?
Because before it can gain any power or achieve any impact an arrow must be pulled backward, 180 degrees away from the target and that’s also where a WHY derives its power.
The WHY does not come from looking ahead at what you want to achieve and figure out an appropriate strategy to get there. It is not born out of any market research. It does not come from interviews with costumers or even employees.
It comes from looking in the complete opposite direction from where you are now.
Finding why is a process of discovery, not of inventions.”
Wealth:
23) Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
It is the first book I have ever read on financial literacy and money and it has challenged and changed the way I used to think about wealth.
My takeaways:
This book is dense and has a lot to offer. I have mentioned a few significant takeaways.
- We have been sold the idea to play it safe, don’t take risks in life especially when it comes to finances. Robert says that nothing is risky. It’s just the lack of simple financial intelligence and literacy.
- Know the difference between assets (bring money in the pocket) and liabilities (take money out of the pocket).
- Keep your expenses low, reduce your liabilities and diligently build a base of solid assets and only then buy luxuries.
- Rich people buy luxuries last.
- Savings are used to create more money not to pay bills.
24) Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.
Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.
It was the first life-changing book I have read about making money and acquiring riches.
This book is about thinking hard and acting smart.
Napolean Hill jots down 13 steps towards making money.
Few most important are
One must have the desire to get rich.
One must work hard to acquire specialized knowledge of the way to make money.
Write down how much money you want and how much time.
Persistence, Persistence and Persistence.
25) The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide.
Graham’s philosophy of “Value Investing”—which shields investors from substantial errors and teaches them to develop long term strategies—has made the intelligent investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
My take away:
It was a difficult book for a medical student like me. But it is recommended for everyone who wants to understand wealth management and investing.
Graham mentions that to invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insight or inside information.
What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework.
A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business, with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price.
The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stock too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.
The future value of every investment is a function of its present price. the higher the price you pay, the lower your return will be.
No matter how careful you are, the one risk no investor can ever eliminate is the risk of being wrong. only by insisting on what Graham called the “margin of safety”-never overpaying, no matter how exciting an investment seems to be –can you minimize your odds of error.
- The secret to your financial success is inside yourself.
If you become a critical thinker who takes no Wall Street “facts” on faith, and you invest with patient confidence, you can take steady advantage of even the worst bear markets. by developing your discipline and courage your financial destiny. in the end, how your investments behave is much less important than how you behave
26) The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The richest man in Babylon is a modern-day classic on financial wisdom written by George S. Clason. It teaches the reader how to manoeuver personal wealth for maximum profit and to develop a deeper understanding of the world of finance.
My Lessons from the book:
To get rich you need to invest where you can earn a profit.
Take the advice from those who are experts.
Control expenditures
Don’t lose money.
Increase your ability to earn and generate multiple streams of income
27) Money: Master the Game. 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins
In this book, Tony Robbins renders even the most complex financial concepts simple and actionable. He teaches us how to secure financial freedom for ourselves and our families.
It has a lot of information about different investment modes e.g. index funds, mutual funds, various retirement plans, equities, annuities.
At the end of the book, he has added his interviews with 150 of the world’s most successful investors, in which they have shared their lifetime experiences, their portfolios and investment strategies for common people.
Health:
28) Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
Here, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss exposes the practices of some of the most recognizable (and profitable) companies and the brands of the last half-century.
We are hooked on Salt, Sugar and Fat. These three simple ingredients are used by the major food companies to achieve the greatest allure for the lowest possible cost.
This is an eye-opening and explosive journey into the secretive world of the processed food industry that has changed the way I used to eat
Lesson:
Give up on all processed and packaged food. There are a lot of substitutes.
OR be ready for chronic diseases and never ending medical bills in your later age.
29) The Story of Human Body by Daniel Liebermann
Human evolution is fun, interesting, and illuminating, and much of this book explores the amazing journey that created our bodies. He argues that our twenty-first-century lifestyles are out of sync with our Paleolithic bodies, and that is leading to trouble.
Lieberman’s message is that modern life has created a mismatch between our abilities and the stresses we place on our body by sitting down all day long and snatching at quick, high energy foods.
My takeaway:
It is okay to take a cold shower sometime.
It’s okay to walk barefoot sometimes.
We should be more physically active.
We should push and oblige ourselves to eat foods that promote health………Because we are evolved to do that.
30) Undoctored by William Davis
This book strikes at the core of what is systematically wrong with the healthcare system which offering a solution simplistic and achievable.
This groundbreaking thoroughly researched book reveals how millions of people are given dietary recommendations crafted by big businesses, are prescribed unnecessary medications, and undergo unwarranted procedures to feed revenue-hungry healthcare systems.
Undoctored is a guide on how to eliminate prescription medicine and how to distinguish good medical advice from bad.
What I have picked from this book.
I removed all grains from my diet including wheat. rye, barley, oat, sorghum, millet, rice, and their derivatives.
I gave up on milk and all dairy products except organic ghee.
I gave up everything which contains or is the source of artificial sugar.
I added vegetables and fruits in as much as the raw form as possible.
I added animal fats in my diet.
Classics:
31) Civilization and its Discontents by Sigmund Freud
This book stands as a brilliant summary of the views on culture from a psychoanalytic perspective that Freud had been developing since the turn of the century.
It is both witness and tribute to the late theory of mind—the so-called structural theory, with its stress on aggression, indeed the death drive, as the pitiless adversary of Eros.
Civilization and Its Discontents is one of the last of Freud’s books, written in the decade before his death and first published in German in 1929. In this book, he states his views on the broad question of man’s place in the world, a place Freud defines in terms of ceaseless conflict between the individual’s quest for freedom and society’s demand for conformity.
Freud’s theme is that what works for civilization doesn’t necessarily work for the man. Man, by nature aggressive and egotistical, seeks self-satisfaction. But culture inhibits his instinctual drives. The result is pervasive and familiar guilt.
32) The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The art of war is an enduring classic that holds a special place in the culture and history of East Asia. An ancient Chinese text on the philosophy and politics of warfare and military strategy.
The treatise was written in 6th century B.C by a warrior- philosopher now famous all over the world as Sun Tzu. It’s an ancient Chinese text on the philosophy and politics of warfare and military strategies, written by Sun Tzu.
My lesson:
Sun Tzu says
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt”
Whenever you start a business, Always do competitive research and keep doing it if you want to stay in business. Always know what your competitors are doing.
33) The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
The Power of Positive Thinking is a simple, practical, heartfelt guide to enable everyone to enjoy confidence, success and joy.
What I have learned:
I have always been a positive person. But this book made me think more about it.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human being can alter their lines by altering their attitudes of mind”
William James
34) The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Written in 1515, The Prince is a treatise on politics. Although many critics condemn its power, content and disparagingly called it Machiavellian, it is usually regarded as the first-ever work on modern political philosophy,
My favourite quote from the book
“A wise prince ought to observe some rules and never in peaceful time stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity so that if fortune changes it may find him prepared to resist her blow.”
35) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses.
Lesson:
One might feel the story is dull and boring but that’s what makes it a classic. This story is about hope.
Knowing who you are, trusting yourself, seeing things from different perspectives yet not in a doubtful way, and giving it all you have got. That’s what I admire. That is what I found in this little book.
36) The Lessons of History by Will Durant
The Lessons of history is the result of a lifetime of research from Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Will and Ariel Durant. It’s a concise survey of the culture and civilization of mankind.
The authors state that half of the history is guessing and rest is prejudice. History repeats itself, but only in the outline.
“You can’t fool all the people, all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country” (Lincoln)
Best lesson from the book:
The man who can manage men manage the men who can manage only things and the men who can manage money manage all.
If progress is real despite our whining, it is not because we are born by healthier, better or wiser than infants were I past, but because we are born to richer heritage, born on a higher level of that pedestal which the accumulation of knowledge and art raises as the ground and support of our being. .
When the heritage rises, and man rises in proportion as he receives it.
37) How to Win Friends and Influence People
It’s a self-help book, written in 1915 but considered a classic as Dale Carnegie’s time tested advice enables us to manage personal relationships more effectively.
What I have learned and implemented:
I try to remember people’s names and call them with their names with the correct pronunciation.
I smile often.
I avoid arguments as the best way to avoid arguments is not to fall into an argument
I listen to people.
If I am wrong, I admit it quickly and emphatically
38) As a man thinketh by James Allen
Millions of readers have experienced the power of this book. Published in 1902, its simple forthright ideas have touched hearts and even changed lives for more than a century.
Takeaway:
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” – The Books of Proverbs (23:7)
Each of us is literally what we think, our character being the complete sum of all our thoughts.
39) From Poverty to Power by James Allen
It’s another classic by James Allen to attain riches by changing your mindset
How to read a book faster?
Tai Lopez suggests a way to read a book faster. He says most of the books have a lot of fluff and only one or two chapters are worth reading.
So my way of reading a book faster is inspired by Tai Lopez. I suggest reading biographies and classics slowly. Take time to absorb these books. The rest of the nonfiction books can be speed read.
Below is my speed reading strategy.
- Read the title and the book the jacket.
- Read the preface and look at the table of contents.
- Now read the first chapter and the last chapter. These two chapters will give you an idea of what the book is about.
- I next 5 to 10 minutes flipping through the pages, read any tables, infographics and anything written in heavy type. Try to pick 1 to 3 chapters which you can find most useful for yourself.
- You will get to know which chapters are worth reading in detail.
- Just pick those chapters and read them in detail
- In this way, you will be able to focus on the most important parts of that book and speed up your reading as well.
Recommended Books by Bill Gates: Best Life-Changing Books
Bill gates is considered as a great reader of all time. According to him, he used to go on reading vacations. Where he spends time with books only. He runs his own blog Gates Notes where he discusses the books he has recently read.
But every December for the past couple of years, Gates shares a year-end list of his favorites. We have picked a few books through his blog which he recommends to read in 2020.
The five books on his end-of-year list will help you start 2020 on a good note.
- “An American Marriage,” by Tayari Jones
From Gates’ review: “Jones is such a good writer that you can’t help but empathize with Roy and Celestial. Both have been put into a super-difficult position. I obviously haven’t experienced what they go through, but the characters — and their reactions to the situation — ring true to me.” - “These Truths,” by Jill Lepore
From Gates’ review: “While many good history books provide perspectives beyond those of the traditional “great men” of history, Lepore’s book makes diverse points of view central to the narrative. She shows you all the ironies and contradictions in American history.” - “Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities,” by Vaclav Smil
From Gates’ review: “Even if you don’t like math, don’t let [the first chapter] scare you off, because it makes a really important point: It destroys the idea that you can take an early growth curve for a particular development — the uptake of the smartphone, for example—and use it as the basis for predicting the future.” - “Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life,” by Diane Tavenner
From Gates’ review: “Diane shares the story of how she designed a new kind of charter school with a simple but very ambitious goal: ‘We wanted to teach kids not just what they needed to get into college, but what they needed to live a good life.’” - “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dream,” by Matthew Walker
From Gates’ review: “I read a couple of great books this year about human behaviour, and this was one of the most interesting and profound. Everyone knows that a good night’s sleep is important — but what exactly counts as a good night’s sleep? And how do you make one happen? Walker has persuaded me to change my bedtime habits to up my chances.”
Best Book Clubs to Join in 2020:
(Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay)
Book clubs are the perfect way to keep reading, talk about what you’re reading, and make friends with other readers. And you don’t even have to leave your house to join one. Here are some of the most popular online book clubs to get you started.
- Oprah’s Book Club by Oprah Winfrey
- Our Shared Shelf by Emma Watson
- Gates Notes by Bill Gates
- Non-Fiction Book Club at Good Read
Let’s Sum it up:
Books are your friend if you treat them as friends. Books are somebody’s lifetime of experience in a few hundred pages.
Books can help you achieve your goals by simulating the life of others and not repeating the mistakes which have already been done. Books are our mentors and they can connect us with the mentors who are no more alive.
So get started with my reading list and witness the change in your life and in the lives of people around you.
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Umama Batool Qazi: A Full-time Dentist, Pinterest manager and contributing columnist at Socialnomics. I write about books, work from home ideas and social media marketing. Join me and other readers here at ubqdigitalmarketing.com to learn how to start a blog and make money faster by using our recommended resources.